The Lotus Europa, built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975, was among the first production road cars to feature a mid-engine rear wheel drive design.

The Europa uses Colin Chapman's minimalist steel backbone chassis, while also relying on its fiberglass body for structure. The 4-wheel independent suspension is also very minimal, specifically in the rear, which depends solely on a trailing arm, one lower link, and the axles. Aside from the doors, bonnet (hood), and trunk, the body is a single piece of fiberglass.

The car's incredible handling prompted automobile magazines to describe the Europa as "the nearest thing to a Formula car for the street".

In all, Lotus built about 9,000 Europas.

History

The design for the Europa began in 1963 with drawings by Ron Hickman , director of Lotus Engineering, for their bid on the Ford GT40 project. That contract ended up going to Lola instead, and Lotus went on to use Hickman's aerodynamic body (with a drag coefficient of .29) in their replacement for the famous Lotus 7: The Europa.

Series 1

The Series 1 or S1 Europa (also known as Lotus Type 46) was announced for sale to European markets on December 20, 1966. The first cars were delivered to France in February 1967. The S1 was fitted with a modified Renault 16 1470 cc engine and a 4-speed gearbox. The engine was a special 82 hp (61.1 kW) version (as opposed to the 52 hp (38.8 kW) generated in standard form), and Lotus mounted it at a 90° angle to accommodate the Europa's unique layout. The S1 weighed 686 kg (1512.4 lb), had a top speed of 110 mph, and did 0–60 mph in 9.5 s. Including the S1A variation (which incorporated some of the S2 changes), there were 650 Europa S1s were produced.

Type 47

In 1967, Lotus raced the Type 47, a lightweight Europa with a 165 hp (123 kW) 1594 cc Lotus/Ford/Cosworth twin cam Kent engine and a Hewland FT 200 5-speed gearbox. A twin cam Europa would not be available to the public until the Type 74, in 1971. It's believed that only 55 Type 47s were built by Lotus. Replicas are now available from Banks Europa Engineering, in several variations.

Series 2

The Europa S2, or Type 54, was introduced in April 1968. It used the same Renault engine as the Type 46, but offered a number of luxurious enhancements, including electric windows, fully adjustable seats, a new interior, and a wooden face on the dash assembly. At the request of insurance companies, Lotus switched to using bolts (instead of resin bonding) to attach the body and frame. A small number of Type 54's were modified to be "federalized;" that is, suitable for export to the United States. In 1969, the Type 65 aka S2 Federal was born, with several changes to the body and engine for U.S. D.O.T. standards. Among other changes, the Renault engine in the Type 65 had a 1565 cc capacity instead of the previous 1470 cc. In all, 3,615 S2s were produced.

TC and TC Special

In 1971, the Type 74 Europa TC was made available to the public, with a 105 hp (78.3 kW) 1558 cc Lotus/Ford Twin Cam engine and a Renault 5-speed gearbox. Mike Kimberley, a new engineer at Lotus, was Chief Engineer of the TC project. 1,580 cars were shipped as Europa TC before they switched to a 126 hp (94 kW) "Lotus Big Valve " version of the engine and renamed the car Europa TC Special. It weighed 740 kg (1631.4 lb), had a top speed of 123 mph, and did 0–60 in 7.0 s. Lotus produced a total of 3,130 TC Specials.

References

• Lotus Europa at pistonheads.com - photographs information
• Europa Census - car registry, photographs, information in French and English
• Autozine's Classic Cars Lotus Page
• race-cars.com Lotus Type Reference
• (print) "Lotus Cars 1948 - 1990" article from 1992 International Lotus Convention (Program Guide), published by Golden Gate Lotus Club

External links

• Banks Europa Engineering - Repair, parts replacement, replicas (Banks Europa 47R, Banks Europa 62S)